“You’re not asking the right questions.” I hadn’t meant to raise my voice, but at least this time, they heard me. Every adult in the room turned my way. “You keep asking about the person who took Bella. You should be asking about her angel.” I met Bella’s eyes and softened my tone. “Bella’s angel pulled her from the river, wrapped her in a blanket—saved her.” I swallowed. “Bella’s parents were gone, so the angel promised to take care of Bella until they got back. And in return…” I glanced down at the little girl. “Bella promised to help.”

“Help with what?” The sheriff inserted himself into the conversation. Even the sound of his voice put me on edge, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of showing it.

“I don’t know,” I said, turning to the little girl sitting beside me. “Bella? Why did the angel need your help?”

Bella caught her lip between her teeth. Seconds ticked by in silence, but eventually, she answered, “The angel needed to save someone else.”

“This angel…” The sheriff took a step toward Bella, but a glare from the child advocate cut him off midsentence and froze him in his tracks.

“Who did the angel need to save?” the woman asked quietly.

Before Bella could answer, the door opened, and the little girl’s entire face lit up. “Mommy!” She was on her feet in an instant. “Daddy!” She started forward, then paused, and I remembered that Bella’s angel had told her they’d left because they were mad.

“Baby.” Bella’s mom fell to her knees, her arms opening. The expression on her face was halfway between torture and exaltation. I thought of the way she’d refused to go back to the hotel, the way she’d fought for Bella, the only way she could. “You’re okay. You’re okay, Belly. Baby, you’re okay.”

Bella’s father showed no visible emotion until Bella launched herself into her mother’s grasp, and then without warning, he let out a sob and collapsed, his arms encircling them both.

It felt wrong to watch—too intimate, too private—but I couldn’t drag my eyes away. I heard every catch of Bella’s mother’s breath, saw every frantic kiss they pressed to her head.

I promised I’d find her, I thought. My eyes stung. I promised I’d bring her home.

I fought the tsunami of emotion welling up inside me. I turned my back on the reunion. A pair of familiar arms wrapped around me. I didn’t fight Cady’s embrace, but I couldn’t make my own arms move. I couldn’t hug her back.

“Perhaps Kira could enlighten us on how she found Bella?” The sheriff managed to make the question sound reasonable, almost comforting, as if he was asking to give me something to focus on, rather than launching a veiled attack.